Reynaldo Peppars, a single dad, in the Turk St. apartment he shares with his two daughters, Veneeta, 13, and Marshey, 6 in San Francisco, Calif., as seen on Thurs. June 11, 2015. The City of San Francisco has quietly managed to house hundreds of poor and homeless families over the past year with a special $2 million state grant from CalWORKS that gives them the money to help cover rent in astonishingly expensive San Francisco. less

Reynaldo Peppars, a single dad, in the Turk St. apartment he shares with his two daughters, Veneeta, 13, and Marshey, 6 in San Francisco, Calif., as seen on Thurs. June 11, 2015. The City of San Francisco has ... more

Reynaldo Peppars, a single dad, with his two daughters, Veneeta, 13, and Marshey, 6 as they walk through the Tenderloin near their Turk St. apartment in San Francisco, Calif., as seen on Thurs. June 11, 2015. The City of San Francisco has quietly managed to house hundreds of poor and homeless families over the past year with a special $2 million state grant from CalWORKS that gives them the money to help cover rent in astonishingly expensive San Francisco. less

Reynaldo Peppars, a single dad, with his two daughters, Veneeta, 13, and Marshey, 6 as they walk through the Tenderloin near their Turk St. apartment in San Francisco, Calif., as seen on Thurs. June 11, 2015. ... more

An innovative program that helps homeless families on welfare get housed while they receive job training and look for work got a big bump in funding in the state budget signed Wednesday by Gov. Jerry Brown.

The CalWORKS Housing Support Program will receive $35 million in the coming year — $15 million more than this past year, its first of operation. And though that is $15 million less than welfare directors all over the state had asked for, advocates generally hailed the increase as a win for their cause.

“This is great news,” said John Bauters, policy director at Housing California, an advocacy nonprofit that was pushing for the extra funding. “It’s really making CalWORKS dollars more efficient. Families who have housing find job training easier to do, child care easier to find and a life of self-sufficiency and independence more likely to be in their future.”

CalWORKS is the state’s welfare program for needy families, but its monthly grants are for job training, child care and transportation while parents look for work. The program isn’t meant to cover full rent.

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Twenty of California’s 58 counties received funding under the program this year, and that housed 3,300 families. San Francisco’s $2 million share allowed 100 homeless families to move inside. The city’s waiting list for more housing grants has 380 families on it.

“While we’re pleased the Legislature and governor included the extra $15 million, we’re disappointed we only got half of what we were looking for,” said Trent Rhorer, San Francisco’s human services director, who was also part of the statewide effort asking for a full $50 million. “As a result, hundreds of families will not be able to get housing while they look for work.”